Author: Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Young adult, fantasy
Publication date: October 6th 2015
Rating: ★★★★☆ (+1/2)
"Simon Snow is the worst chosen one who’s ever been chosen.That’s what his roommate, Baz, says. And Baz might be evil and a vampire and a complete git, but he’s probably right.
Half the time, Simon can’t even make his wand work, and the other half, he sets something on fire. His mentor’s avoiding him, his girlfriend broke up with him, and there’s a magic-eating monster running around wearing Simon’s face. Baz would be having a field day with all this, if he were here—it’s their last year at the Watford School of Magicks, and Simon’s infuriating nemesis didn’t even bother to show up.
Carry On is a ghost story, a love story, a mystery and a melodrama. It has just as much kissing and talking as you’d expect from a Rainbow Rowell story—but far, far more monsters."
Carry on is the second Rainbow Rowell-book I read, the first one being Fangirl. In Fangirl the main character Cath writes fanfiction about the fictional world of Gemma T. Leslie in which the main characters are Simon Snow and Baz. While I was reading Fangirl I was already fascinated by this story and I wanted to read more of Cath fanfic, Carry on.
Suprisingly enough this book is neither Cath's fanfiction, nor the "original" book by Gemma T. Leslie, but it is the book as Rainbow Rowell would have written it. I wasn't entirely sure if I'd like this book considering the only other book by Rowell I had read was a contemperary novel and writing a good fantasy is really hard to do. But I can say she definetely did really well. Some parts of the book were a bit slow or annoying but overall this was a really enjoyable book. The never has some darker moments in it, but never gets really dark or depressed, which is really nice.
Now, in order to do the more detailed part of this review I'm going to have to give quite a few spoilers, so if you don't want to read those, stop right here.
First, let's talk about this world. The world in Carry on is very rich, there are a lot of small notes on different countries and their attitude towards magic, as well as some details about the history of magic, that make this world seem really detailed. The book isn't long, just 522 pages, but Rowell managed to create a world better than some long fantasy-series. The magic-system is just fascinating. Spells are just normal sentences, but the better they're known, the more impact they'll have. This let to some cringe-worthy, yet kind of funny, spells (e.g. "Have a break, have a Kit-kat") but also some really great ones. (e.g. "Easy come, easy go. Little high, little low.") The idea of spells coming in and out of fashion and their power being influenced by this was really original. There are countless possibility's of the use of these spells and the way they change. Some spells can even be the exact same words, but the language they are said in changing the effects it will have. (Also, just think about how powerful multilingualistic people would be!) The magic system really added to the general freshness of the story.
The wizards are involved in modern society, even in 'Normal'-society, which is also a fun addition to the story. There are even cellphones and laptops at school! (Really!) This makes the book feel very much like a contemporary novel as well, and Rowell used this in her advantage.
"U can't touch this!"
"What's that?" I shout at her.
"Barrier spell. It won't work unless the dragon knows the song."
"How would the dragon know that song?"
"I'm doing my best, Simon!"
This book was very character driven and this usually isn't my cup of tea, so I was obviously suprised to find myself liking this book as much as I did. The story follows our main character Simon Snow, the chosen one who never wanted to be chosen, but there are several first person point of views. Simon is a super lovable character. He is quirky, funny and sometimes a tad stupid, but this never gets really unbearably annoying. You immediately get to know his best friend Penny, a smart feminist bad-ass. Penny was the perfect friend for both Simon and Baz. She was intelligent and never once jealous of Agatha and Simon's or Baz and Simon's relationship. (Yeah, platonic boy/girl-friendships!) She was really supportive of them, whilst never picking a side for the sake of picking a side. Everything she did was a concious decision. In the beginning of the story Baz is absent and all you know get to know about him is told through Simon. Baz is portrayed as a sadistic, evil, vampire. When you meet Baz you quickly find out there is so much more to him. The way Baz develops from this villian into a "good" guy is done beautifully, him never seeming out of character. Agatha, who is Simons girlfriend in the beginning of the story, was probably the most fascinating people in the book. She wasn't brave or heroic, nor was she a total coward. She seemed really normal, and I think she reacted like most people would react to the events in the book, although she was a bit whiny at times.
All the minor characters were also really detailed and I felt like I really got to know them just as much as Simon did. My absolute favourite has to be Ebb though. I loved the way Rowell showed very different ways of dealing with having a great power through the Mage (who kept wanting more power, obsessing over it and wanting to use it to reform the world to his ideas), Ebb (who stepped away entirely from the power, never using a lot of it) and even Nicodemus (whose power was taken away when he hungered for more, making him have to live a shallow and empty live afterwards)
One of my favourite things about this book is the queerness in it. None of the characters were gay just to add diversity or just to please the fans. Like in real life, some of the minor characters are gay and some are even just implied gay. Baz is absolutely sure he is gay, while Simon is more doubting about his sexuality. I would have loved for him to admit he is bisexual rather than gay or straight (we need more bisexual-representation!), but I also liked the fact that figuring out his sexuality, compared to his other problems, is only a minor issue. Because, let's be real, when the entire faith of the world is dependent of your decisions, would your sexuality truly be the most important thing to worry about? I don't think so.
Baz also struggles a lot with his father's attitude towards him being gay, which is a realistic touch to his character and makes the fact that he is gay not just a random addition, but also a real part of his character.
"I suppose I am gay; my therapist says it's not even in the top five things I have to sort out right now."
The only thing that really bothered me is the Lucy-storyline. Lucy was the girlfriend of the mage, and later she was revealed to be Simon's mother. The "plottwist" (the Mage and Lucy being Simon's parents) was kind of obvious to me and I really saw it coming ever since the first time the characters discussed Lucy. I would have loved to see what happened to her, or maybe even a small reunion with either the Mage or Simon, but her storyline just kind of stops without giving a real explanation or ending. I feel like her chapters just lead up to nothing, which is a shame.
All things considered, this was a really nice book to read and I would definetely recommend this book to anyone who either love the fanfiction in Fangirl, Harry Potter or just generally loves slightly more lighthearted fantasy.
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